How Application Windows Work

Normally a user input view accepts submissions at any time and sends each one straight to its first approver. Application windows change that for placements that run a competitive round: applications are accepted only between two dates, held in a queue nobody is told about, and when the window closes a co-ordinator chooses who goes forward. Everybody else is declined.

The feature is built around a placement (anything people apply for: a work-experience slot, a course, a clinic session) held in one datastore, and an application form whose datastore names the placement chosen.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → Forms:

Application Periods — the dated rounds for each placement
Shortlisting — decide each closed round
Process Inspector — the Application windows section of a form, for checking the set-up

Admin Panel → Processes:

Shortlisting — the same console for co-ordinators, once granted

Architect Panel → Automation:

Tasks — Close Application Windows, which marks rounds ready and sends the closing notice

Each placement says how it takes applications

The placement datastore has an availability field, a Pills field whose options, in order, mean:

No - Hide from Directory: not open. Applications are refused.
Yes - Apply Any Time: the normal behaviour. Applications go straight to the first approver, optionally with a cap on places (see Rolling Capacity and First-Come-First-Served Rounds).
Yes - Only During Set Periods: applications are accepted only inside an open period, and queued for shortlisting.

A placement nobody has set reads as not open. A fourth option for dated rounds filled first come, first served is described in the capacity article.

What happens to an application

The form checks the dates before saving anything. Outside a window the applicant is told why, for example Applications for this placement open on or closed on a date, and nothing is created.
Inside a window the application is queued. The applicant gets their confirmation e-mail; nobody else is told. Their progress bar reads Awaiting shortlisting.
The window closes on its closing date, whether or not any task runs.
A co-ordinator shortlists the round. Up to the number of places are chosen, a reserve list may be ranked, and the rest are declined.
Shortlisted applications go to their next stage and the approver is e-mailed. From then on each is an ordinary request.
Reserves wait. If a shortlisted application is later declined, cancelled or timed out, its place is free and a reserve can be promoted.
Applications not chosen are recorded as an ordinary decline, so the decline e-mail, the progress bar and the Declined tab all behave normally. Their tracking page does not offer the apply-again link, because the window has closed.

Two clocks

Whether a window is open is a date comparison made on every submission, so applications stop on the closing date even if the Close Application Windows task never runs. But the Shortlisting console only lets you act on a round whose status is Ready to shortlist. The task sets that status on its first run after the closing date and e-mails the round's Notify addresses; without the task, set the status by hand in Application Periods.

Worked example

An NHS work-experience hub offers theatre placements in two October rounds, each advertised through September with six places. A student applies on 14 September; the form accepts it and queues it, and the student's tracker says Awaiting shortlisting. Applications close on 26 September. Next morning the task marks both rounds Ready to shortlist and e-mails the placement co-ordinator. They open Shortlisting, pick six for each round, rank three reserves, and confirm. The six students' parents are e-mailed for consent; everyone else receives the declined e-mail.

Recommendations

Use set periods only where you must choose; Apply Any Time with a places cap is simpler when first come first served is fair.
Enable the Close Application Windows task, or someone must set statuses by hand.
Name a from-address on the form's first approval stage; the closing notice is sent from it.
Check the Process Inspector before opening the first round.